GIS Activities at NWS Norman with a Focus on the May 2013 Tornadoes

Aaron AndersonInformation Technology OfficerNWS Norman Forecast Office

Overview

• Background on operations and staffing during events

• Use of GIS during the May tornadoes• Other GIS activities both local and NWS wide

The Norman WFO

We issue forecasts and warnings for…

48 counties in OK8 counties in TX

47,546 sq. mi.2.175 million people

May 20, 2013WFO Norman Staffing

Tornado Path Application (TPA)

• Goals– Easy to use operationally– Rapid updates– Simplify dissemination– Standard GIS formats (.shp, .kmz, .kml)

• Advantages– Near real time GIS information– Aid first responders – Assist local, state, and federal EM community in

planning response

Development• Location of rotation

signature on radar and tornado on the ground can differ

• Compared radar signatures to damage surveys

• Developed algorithm to quantify track uncertainty based on distance from radar

Operational Use

• Forecaster selects point and radar being used in TPA

• Updates point in AWIPS with each radar update

• TPA stores positions, generates, and sends new KML file with each update

May 20 Tornado

Preliminary Damage Path

3:13 PM and 3:43 PM

Radar Path vs Damage SurveyMay 20th, 2013 Moore Tornado

Radar Path vs Damage SurveyMay 31st, 2013 El Reno Tornado

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate

FEMA used prelim tornado track data to deploy additional USAR teams to Moore before they were officially requested

Future Plans• Software

– Add functionality– AWIPS2 Plugin

• Integrate and capitalize on GIS architecture– How to best communicate uncertainty area

• Dissemination– Determine best ways to share data with partners

• NOAA Geoplatform, Geoserver, etc– Coordinate and collaborate with other NWS projects

• Hazard Services• GIS in AWIPS

Damage Assessment Toolkit (DAT)

• Main tornado survey tool• Enables rapid assessment of damage points• Ability to include photos/narratives for specific damage indicators

DAT on Portable Devices

• Surveyors can enter damage information on smartphones and tablets

DAT Web Interface• Real time updates from field teams• Quality control• Export variety of GIS formats

Use of GIS Data from May Tornadoes

• EM (planning and response)• Media (graphics, etc)• Planning aerial flyover assessments• Google Crisis Map (integrated with DAT)• Research

– Lead time by population using Landscan data

97% of the people in the path had31+ minutes warning

42 minutes

40 minutes

37 minutes

Local GIS Applications

• Situational Awareness• Decision Support• Internal Web Apps

AWIPS 2

• New operational software– Fully spatially enabled– Open source

technologies (PostGIS, GeoTools, etc)

– Provides underlying architecture for new capabilities and products

Geoplatform.gov

• Centralized platform to discover and access GIS data and services

• Similar to OKMaps but for Fed Govt

• Early in deployment• www.geoplatform.gov/

noaa/noaa-home

Questions?

Aaron AndersonAaron.Anderson@noaa.gov